No-wake Backers Seek An Advisory Referendum

May 24, 1996|By Stephanie Price.

Crystal Lake — Organizers of a recent lake usage survey said they will ask the Crystal Lake Park District Board to consider placing a non-binding referendum proposal on the fall election ballot to give residents some say on lake-safety rules.

The Committee Supporting Lake Rules for the Majority failed earlier this week to persuade Crystal Lake and Lakewood leaders to change the current lake use rules back to last year's regulations, which provided more no-wake time for passive boaters.

The committee presented results of a recent survey where 84 percent of 480 respondents said they preferred last year's rules that had no-wake hours on Tuesdays, Thursdays and late afternoons on Saturdays and Sundays. Almost half of the mail-in respondents said they would like the lake to be made a no-wake body all of the time, the survey showed.

Municipal leaders also rejected the committee's request to support a binding referendum proposal that would ask all residents which lake rules they want enacted on the lake. With that, committee chairwoman Lori Phelps said she and her supporters are drafting wording for a non-binding referendum and will ask the Park Board to support it.

"We want to have a referendum so we can see what the people want," Phelps said. "And, even though it would be non-binding, we would want the city and the village to accept the results of the referendum."

Phelps said her committee would use referendum results to challenge candidates running for council and trustee positions in both towns next spring. The committee already is lining up candidates who support more no-wake hours to run for both boards, she said.